Hat-tip



(in Model.)

I I I A. U. COUCH.

- HAT TIP.

- No. 291.034. Patented Jan. 1, 1884.

UNITED STATES PATENT OF CE.

ALBERT CHARLES COUCH, OF- BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

HAT-TIP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 291,034, dated January 1, 1884.

- Application filed November 22, 1883. (No model.)

To aZZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALBEBT O. OoUoH, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Boston, Suffolk county, Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Hat-Tips, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is a tip. for hats or caps, &c., in which the trade-mark design or other ornament is combined with a durable cheap and effective protector.

In Letters Patent No. 282,441, granted to me July 31, 1883, I described a hat or cap in which the design, trade-mark, or other ornamentation of the tip was protected by a sheet or covering of mica. This construction has proved to be desirable and effective; but it is necessary to employ mica of a superior quality and consequently somewhat expensive, as inferior qualities of this natural material are not only cloudy and lack transparency, but are liable to flake and break up, and to become discolored-by the entrance of fine dust between the laminae.

My improvement consists in combining with the figured sheet constituting the ordinary tip a sheet of thin transparent or translucent gela;

tine or other artificial flexible material,which, being in one piece, is not open to the objections incident to inferior qualities of mica, while it is much cheaper than the latter and can be more readily'formed to the desired shape.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view, and Fig. 2 a detail sectional view.

A represents the hat; B, the tip, consisting of a printed silk or other fabric; and O, the

covering-plate, of gelatine cemented or otherwise secured to the tip, which is sewed in its place, as usual.

The gelatine film or sheet may be colored either of a uniform color or variegated to represent tortioise-shell or other naturalobjects, and may be silvered at the back or applied to a sheet of tin-foil to secure a reflecting-surface. I do not here, however, claim asilvered 5 or reflecting sheet of gelatine, as the same will constitutea subject of a separate application for Letters Patent.

As an ordinary gelatine sheet is liable to be affected by moisture, I prefer in most instances to render the sheets insoluble by the use of chromic acid, alum, or other substances in a manner to secure this result, with the addi-. tional effect of hardening or giving greater durability to the material.

I do not limit myself to the use of gelatine as a substitute for mica, my invention consisting in the employment of an artificial transparent or translucent flexible material consisting of continuous sheets in contradistinction to the laminated natural substance heretofore used. For instance, I use in some instances sheets of collodion.

I claim- 1. A hat-tip consisting of a sheet of ornamented fabric and a separate flexible coveringsheet, formed of an artificial transparent or translucent material in one continuous piece, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, in a hat-tip, of an ornamented fabric and a covering of colored gelatine formed into a separate continuous sheet, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, in a hat-tip, of an ornamented-or printed fabric, and a separate gelatine sheet connected together and adapted for application for hat or cap, substantially as specified.

4. A hat-tip composed, in whole or in part, of a continuous sheet of bichromatized or other insoluble gelatine, as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ALBERT CHARLES COUCH.

Witnesses:

H. H. HAYDEN, HAL BELL. 

